Joint Doorstop with Leader - Adelaide

TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON. TONY ABBOTT MHR

JOINT DOORSTOP INTERVIEW WITH THE HON. CHRISTOPHER PYNE MHR, MANAGER OF OPPOSITION BUSINESS IN THE HOUSE,

 ADELAIDE

Subjects: Julia Gillard’s carbon tax; Craig Thomson; the independents.

E&OE… 

TONY ABBOTT:

It’s great to be here at Rex. Rex is a very important part of the life of regional Australia and Rex is going to be significantly impacted by the carbon tax. The whole point about this carbon tax is that it is an invasive tax. It will impact on the way every Australian lives and every Australian works and one of the big impacts on regional Australia will be the impact that it has on the price of regional air tickets, of flying in regional Australia, of transport in regional Australia.

Rex have calculated that the carbon tax will add something like $2 million a year to their costs. That’s $2 million that’s going to be added to the price of air tickets. The trouble is it’s just going to go up and up and up as time goes by. That means more and more pressure on the cost of living of people in regional Australia. Ultimately as the carbon tax goes up and up and up there’s pressure on services, potentially cuts in services, and that means that the quality of life in regional Australia goes down. So I say to the Prime Minister: if you are fair dinkum about doing the right thing by regional Australia drop this toxic tax.

Now, I’m going to ask Chris Hine from Rex to say a few words, then I might ask Chris Pyne – it’s good to be with Chris here in Adelaide today – I might ask Chris to say a few words.

CHRIS HINE:

Thank you Mr Abbott and it’s certainly a pleasure to have you and Mr Pyne with us here at Rex and, to echo your words, we’ve been very concerned about the impact of the carbon tax since it was announced. As you’ve said, this will add $2 million initially in the first year to our bottom line and the perception is that we should simply just pass that on to our travelling customers without that causing any impact on our demand. Our experience over the last ten years of Regional Express and prior to that Kendell and Hazelton Airlines through a vast part of this country is that regional travellers deserve and need cost effective air services and we’ve worked extremely hard to bring our ticket prices down in real terms, to stimulate that demand, to help those communities grow.

We know through experience that simply adding $2 here, $2 there will affect the demand and make that ability for air travel harder and harder and our biggest fear is that then causes us to no longer be able to provide a service or, at the very least, no longer be able to provide the sorts of schedules that we can. The other perplexing thing to us is that if the ultimate desire of this carbon tax should be – in theory – to cause us to modify our behaviour. The only way in which we can do that is to not fly as much and therefore we will also potentially push people into the motor vehicle, which isn’t subject to the carbon tax and which we believe is more polluting per person. So it has almost a perverse affect potentially.

TONY ABBOTT:

Ok. Chris, do you want to say something?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:

Yes, thanks Tony. Just very briefly on the issue of Craig Thomson, this week has been dominated in the parliament by the Government’s failure, Julia Gillard’s failure in particular, to ask Craig Thomson to make a full explanation to the house about the controversies that are surrounding him. Yesterday I noted that the Acting Foreign Minister Craig Emerson did a press conference for 20 minutes on the issue of Craig Thomson. He was asked one question about a travel advisory to the United States about Hurricane Irene and he said ‘I’ll have to get back to you on that subject’. He then cut that out of his transcript. Now, if this isn’t a Government that is distracted and paralysed by the Craig Thomson issue then I’d hate to see a government that is. It’s high time Mr Thomson and Ms Gillard gave a full explanation for their involvement in these events so that the Government can put this matter behind it and get on with addressing issues like cost of living for Australian families and reducing the burden of an incoming carbon tax – unless we can stop it – on places like Rex Airlines.

TONY ABBOTT:

Questions?

QUESTION:

On Craig Thomson – either yourself Mr Pyne or Mr Abbott – this is obviously taking its toll as you’ve mentioned. Do you think perhaps there are mental health concerns for Craig Thomson?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I think that it’s pretty clear what needs to happen here. First of all the New South Wales police investigation needs to take place. Second, Fair Work Australia needs to conclude its investigation and take whatever action is appropriate arising from its investigation. This investigation has dragged on for far too long, as Kathy Jackson of the Health Services Union has made clear. Third, the Prime Minister does need to give a full explanation of the ALP loan or gift to Mr Thomson to settle his defamation action. Finally, the Prime Minister can’t run away from the parliament the way she did last week. What the Prime Minister did last week was really trash the parliament to protect herself and that’s just demeaning of the high office of the prime ministership.

QUESTION:

If the police do finish their investigation and don’t charge Craig Thomson will the Opposition stop attacking him?

TONY ABBOTT:

Let’s wait and see what happens. There is now a police investigation that should take its course and let’s see what happens.

QUESTION:

Given he is under so much scrutiny though, is this affecting his mental health and perhaps his performance abilities?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, perhaps this is something that the Prime Minister would like to deal with. I mean, what I keep saying is he should explain himself, as Kathy Jackson has now said repeatedly, and the Prime Minister should explain herself. Yes there is a police investigation into misuse of the union credit card but there is no investigation into the Labor Party’s loan or gift to Mr Thomson and this is what the Prime Minister really needs to explain.

QUESTION:

[Inaudible]

TONY ABBOTT:

I’m sorry?

QUESTION:

Kathy Jackson pulled out of a TV interview this morning. Is she perhaps scared to front a television audience?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, there is a pretty nasty culture that is starting to seep under the door here, a culture of silence, a culture of cover up. I think it was really appalling to see that act of intimidation against Kathy Jackson on Friday. I note the Prime Minister has said nothing about this. The Prime Minister didn’t show a skerrick of human sympathy for Kathy Jackson when she had the opportunity to do so in the parliament on Thursday. When you look at this Government you see failures of policy, you see failures of judgment and now we’re seeing failures of humanity and I think we want to see a bit of humanity here. Kathy Jackson is speaking up for the right and she deserves a bit of support from the leader of our country.

QUESTION:

Tony Windsor, and excuse me for the crassness of this quote, but he said that the only thing that you would not do is sell your arse and that you said that you’d give serious thought to doing so. What’s your response to that? Did you say that?

TONY ABBOTT:

I don’t speak like that. People who know me know that I don’t speak like that. Sure, after the election I wanted to secure government because I wanted to save our country from what was already a bad Government, and I think that what we’ve seen since then vindicated my judgment. This is a bad Government getting worse. Going into the campaign I wanted to end the waste, pay back the debt, stop the big new taxes and stop the boats. Now, as we know, the debt is worse, the taxes are worse, the boats keep coming. That’s why I wanted to secure the government.

QUESTION:

So what lengths will you go to to stop the Government?

TONY ABBOTT:

I engaged in a negotiation to the best of my ability but I think that some of the people I was negotiating had already made up their minds.

QUESTION:

Why would Tony Windsor say something like that? I mean…

TONY ABBOTT:

That’s a question for him.

QUESTION:

Where does that come from?

TONY ABBOTT:

That’s a question for him.

QUESTION:

Do you need to repair your relationship with the independents?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I have always treated the independents with respect and courtesy. I’m not sure it’s been reciprocated, but I’ve always treated them with respect and courtesy and that’s the way I intend to continue.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:

And in the last week we have won six votes in the House of Representatives on the floor of the parliament. Between 1961 and 1963 the Menzies Government lost three votes and called an election because they said that the Australian people deserved an unambiguous government. In the last 12 months we’ve won over 25 votes on the floor of the house and six in the last week. So our relationship with the independents is as good as it could possibly be given that they have made an agreement with the Government. But obviously the fact that Andrew Wilkie particularly has voted with us numerous times this week, I think it sends a message that the crossbenchers are starting to get very concerned that they are also part of a very bad Government.

QUESTION:

These people like Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott [inaudible] aligned with the Gillard Government or is that your feeling in the Opposition?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:

Well, that’s a matter for the independents. They made their choice last year, but they can always change their mind.

QUESTION:

They are disenfranchised former Nationals basically. Does that mean that the Liberals have turned away from regional policies that did actually look after the types of people that they represent?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I think the problem for Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott is that they aren’t listening to their electorates and it’s not too late for them to listen to their electorates. I think if they were listening to their electorates on the carbon tax, on the mining tax, on the general conduct of government I think they would be taking a different position in the parliament. I am happy to keep talking to them, I’ve been talking to them ever since the election. I’ll keep talking to them, but I think it’s important for them to talk to their electorates as well.

QUESTION:

Back on the union if that’s ok, do you think the New South Wales Health Services Union’s books should also be analysed?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I think that Kathy Jackson is speaking up for her members. The Health Services Union represents 70,000 decent people who do difficult jobs for very modest pay and they don’t deserve to have their union dues misused. The fact that the Labor Party is desperately trying to bury what’s happened at the Health Services Union shows how out of touch with the decent workers of Australia the Labor Party has become.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, on the topic of Mary Jo Fisher, have you had recent discussions with her given the upcoming court case?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, Mary Jo told me late last year that she had a mental health issue. She told me in July that she’d been charged and the matter was going to court. Now, she will have her day in court. In the meantime she’s getting, I think, a good level of support from her colleagues in the parliament who understand that she’s been wrestling with a very serious mental health issue.

QUESTION:

Are you considering standing her down?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, Mary Jo to her credit has stood aside from her committee duties since all this transpired.

QUESTION:

Before or after the court case should she make a statement to the parliament about it?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, that’s really a question which will be determined by the outcome of the case, but the fact is Mary Jo is facing up to what she’s done, she’s going to have her day in court and that’s the way it should be. I think any attempts by the Labor Party or the Prime Minister to say that there’s some kind of moral equivalence between Mary Jo and Craig Thomson I think is a bit contemptible.

Thank you.

[ends]